PARTS OF SPEECH IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

PARTS OF SPEECH IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

          Most of us would recall that right from our primary school days, we were taught that there are eight (8) parts of speech namely: Noun, Pronoun, Adjective, Verb, Adverb, Conjunction, Preposition and Interjection (or Exclamation).  But in more recent times, some English experts have added another part, Article, to the list to make it nine (9) parts of speech.

          With this development, two schools of thought have arisen.  One school of thought argues that the parts of speech should remain eight (8) namely: Noun, Pronoun, Adjective, Verb, Adverb, Conjunction, Preposition and Article with the total removal of Interjection (or Exclamation).  The other is of the view that all the nine (9) parts of speech namely: Noun, Pronoun, Adjective, Verb, Adverb, Conjunction, Preposition Article and Interjection (or Exclamation) should be retained and recognised. 

          Understanding parts of speech is as important to an English user as a solid foundation is to an erected building.  If a user’s understanding of parts of speech is poor, then the command of English will be weak; but if the understanding is keen, then the command of English is bound to be appreciably strong.

          Let us now consider the parts of speech in detail, starting with Noun.

NOUN

          A noun is commonly defined as a name of a person, place, thing or idea.

Types of Nouns:

Proper Nouns

Common Nouns

Collective Nouns

Countable (Or Count) Nouns

Uncountable (Or Non-Count) Nouns

Concrete Nouns

Abstract Nouns

Singular Nouns

Plural Nouns

Irregular Nouns:

Gerund Nouns:

PRONOUNS

A pronoun is commonly defined as a word that replaces a noun, or is used instead of noun, in a sentence.   Words like I, me, mine, myself, she, her, hers, herself, we, us, ours and ourselves are examples of pronouns.  Pronouns are used to make our language flow well and to avoid the cumbersomeness of repeating the same nouns over and over in a paragraph or passage.

Types of Pronouns:

Personal Pronouns

Possessive Pronouns

Reflexive Pronouns

Intensive Pronouns

Reciprocal Pronouns

Indefinite Pronouns

Demonstrative Pronouns

Interrogative Pronouns

Relative Pronouns 

ADJECTIVES

An adjective is generally defined as a word that qualifies, or modifies or describes a noun or pronoun.  In most cases, adjectives come before nouns in sentences.

Types of Adjectives:

Adjectives Used To Make Comparisons

Adjectives Used as Superlatives

Irregular Adjectives

Proper Adjectives

VERBS

A verb is a word or group of words used to express an action or a state of being in a sentence. Every sentence must have a verb, and this makes the verb the most important word as far as the construction of a sentence is concerned.

In a sentence, a verb connects the subject to the object.  But not all sentences have objects.  Nevertheless, all sentences, no matter how short, must have verbs (before they can be classified as sentences).

Types of Verbs:

Transitive Verbs

Intransitive Verbs

Auxiliary Verbs

Regular Verbs

Irregular verbs

Linking Verbs

Action Verbs

State Verbs

Finite Verbs

Non-Finite Verbs

Phrasal Verbs

Linking Verbs.

ADVERBS

An adverb is a word that modifies or changes or simplifies the meaning of a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.  And by extension, an adverb can modify a verbal phrase, or even a clause.  An adverb provides information about the manner, place, time, frequency, certainty, or other circumstances of the activity denoted (in a sentence).

Types of Adverbs:

Adverbs of Manner

Adverbs of Place

Adverbs of Frequency

Adverbs of Time

Adverbs of Degree

Adverbs as Intensifiers

Positions of Adverbs

CONJUNCTIONS

Conjunctions are words or phrases used to join related words, phrases, or clauses. Conjunctions help us to join ideas together in a coherent manner to construct understandable and smooth-flowing sentences, instead of making or writing many disjointed sentences or clauses that would sound boring.

Types of Conjunctions:

Coordinating Conjunctions

Subordinating Conjunctions Correlative Conjunctions The Multi-Connective Role of Conjunctions
PREPOSITIONS Preposition is a single or compound word used before a noun, pronoun or noun phrase to express their relationship (relationship of such noun, pronoun or noun phrase) with the rest of the sentence. Some commonly used single-word prepositions are as follows:  about, above, after, along, among, before, behind, beside, between, by, for, from, in, into, like, near, of, off, on, over, to, since, through, throughout, under, until, up, with, within, without, underneath, past, toward, upon, onto, during, below, like,  around, beneath. Types of Prepositions: Prepositions Of  Time Prepositions of  Place Prepositions of  Direction of  Movement INTERJECTIONS OR EXCLAMATIONS An Interjection or Exclamation is a word added to a sentence to convey emotion or feeling. It is not grammatically related to any other part of the sentence.
Interjections are usually followed with exclamation marks or with commas and exclamation marks. Interjections are not commonly used in formal academic prose, except in direct quotations.

Note on Use of Injections/Exclamations as a Part of Speech:

Some experts are now of the opinion that Interjection or Exclamation should no longer be regarded as a part of speech since it only expresses emotion or feeling in a sentence.  But some other experts still opine that it should be retained as a part of

speech.

ARTICLES

Grammatically, articles are the words a, an or the.  The words a and an are indefinite articles while the word the is an definite article.  

Indefinite Article: A, An

Definite Article: The

Zero Article (No Article)